Hi all,
Been a member of this great site for a while now, just lurking and admiring all the fine projects here.

Today all the stars aligned and I picked up my first bus outside of Everett, PA. '02 Blue Bird 3800. T444E, not sure of the tranny, 8-row ((which I really wanted), very good shape, only one patch of rust on the rear door, and only 25,500 GVWR, so no CDL. Great price. Has cruise control and was actually a breeze to drive 150 miles home. The seller, whom I'd talked with a few times, actually let me use his papers and plate to get her home, after he got the title notarized for me locally. Now for the insurance, and getting the title in my name, and...deciding on a name for the little beast.

Hi all,
Been a member of this great site for a while now, just lurking and admiring all the fine projects here.

Today all the stars aligned and I picked up my first bus outside of Everett, PA. '02 Blue Bird 3800.

I see you've been a skoolie.net member since 2010? I'd say that's "a while". Congratulations on your bus. With all that time here on the forum, you've probably built your bus many times in your head, on paper, on the computer even? I must be pretty exciting to actually have the bus in the driveway. Good luck with your build.

I see you've been a skoolie.net member since 2010? I'd say that's "a while". Congratulations on your bus. With all that time here on the forum, you've probably built your bus many times in your head, on paper, on the computer even? I must be pretty exciting to actually have the bus in the driveway. Good luck with your build.

Thank you! Yes, I've mostly been picking up tips and design ideas off and on. Right now, the #1 issue is retitling the bus, since I can't continue it as a school bus, and PA won't allow a "motor home" title until several hoops are jumped through.

Removed the stop arm, lettering and reflectors from the bus, which I am calling "Point of Origin". It's about 18° outside today, so the work I can do is limited for now. I'm going to try removing the crossing arm tomorrow if it's a bit warmer. I found that the seats are held by 4 bolts on two legs, plus 2 on the side rail. Holding the bolts from above and using an impact driver under the bus works well to get them out.

I spoke with the local title agency here, and after a lot of back and forth between them and DMV, they want me to hold off on retitling it as a "truck" (which would have been temporary), and do the minimum requirements to get the motor home inspection, weighing and titling. The special inspection place is about 3 miles from here, so I'm going to head over and talk with them about what I need, etc., so I can get the title transferred and get insurance on it.

Removed the stop arm, lettering and reflectors from the bus, which I am calling "Point of Origin". It's about 18° outside today, so the work I can do is limited for now. I'm going to try removing the crossing arm tomorrow if it's a bit warmer. I found that the seats are held by 4 bolts on two legs, plus 2 on the side rail. Holding the bolts from above and using an impact driver under the bus works well to get them out.

I spoke with the local title agency here, and after a lot of back and forth between them and DMV, they want me to hold off on retitling it as a "truck" (which would have been temporary), and do the minimum requirements to get the motor home inspection, weighing and titling. The special inspection place is about 3 miles from here, so I'm going to head over and talk with them about what I need, etc., so I can get the title transferred and get insurance on it.

Cool, I just removed the stop arm, stop sign, and lettering from our bus today! Took care of the dmv stuff last week. Went smooth but its the 5th bus I've had now so I've gotten it down to a system.
Have fun!

Cool, I just removed the stop arm, stop sign, and lettering from our bus today! Took care of the dmv stuff last week. Went smooth but its the 5th bus I've had now so I've gotten it down to a system.
Have fun!

Thank you!

PA is a little "hazy" about the reg/title requirements, so I'm trying to thread that needle and not have to have any do-overs.